The FINANCIAL — According to Gulfnews, the revelation that the stricken Philippines ferry 'Princess of the Stars' was carrying the hazardous pesticides endosulfan, carbofuran and methmamidophos, further highlights the poor standards of enforcement of regulations and blatant disregard for 'duty of care' that remains prevalent in some jurisdictions, often exploited by a significant minority of unscrupulous ship operators.
Such occurrences shall continue to unfairly sully the reputation of shipping standards when the majority of global operators carry out their business with responsibility and compliance.
Yet it is such accidents, caused so often by substandard practices and crass avoidance of regulatory compliance that will always hit the headlines and will always give a misleading picture of the overall levels of adherence to the regulations.
Furthermore, to add to any loss of life, when pollution or risk of pollution is a factor, the adverse publicity exacerbates the damage to the reputation of the industry.
Notwithstanding other questionable operational factors concerning this particular accident that have put the operator Sulpicio under the 'microscope', its action in transporting the dangerous cargo has been described by Philippines' Transport Undersecretary, Maria Elena Bautista, as illegal and in violation of maritime regulations that prohibit the transportation of hazardous cargo onboard passenger ships. She went on to say that the government was considering filing charges against Sulpicio for this violation.
Stable door
Such a process is essential but at the same time it underlines the 'stable door' scenario where reactivity is a poor substitute for proactivity before the event and while any punishment for flouting safety regulations is very necessary, the situation of lack of enforcement in the first place should be of considerable concern to the authorities.
Bautista also said that it was the shipper of the endosulfan (Del Monte) that had informed the authorities of the dangerous cargo rather than the ship operator – an indication that the nature of this hazardous substance had not been properly identified by Sulpicio during the process of its emergency response following the start of the emergency.
As it squirms under the pressures against it, Sulpicio has accused Del Monte, of failing to declare the nature of the cargo – an allegation that Del Monte has strenuously denied during the legal action brought by Sulpicio.
Del Monte claims that all of the documentation was correct and properly presented to Sulpicio, including the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) and the Bill of Lading that detailed the cargo as a toxic marine pollutant.
Furthermore, the material had been shipped in a 40-feet container from Israel to Manila by Yang Ming Line, in accordance with the IMDG Code, before its transhipment by Sulpicio.
Del Monte said the container was properly and clearly marked as containing a toxic substance and marine pollutant. Reports say that the chemical was packed into 400 steel boxes inside the container.
Whatever the outcome of the legal wrangle, the fact that such a cargo was onboard the Princess of the Stars caused divers to abort the recovery of corpses and has prevented the nearby islands from fishing during an extreme time of hardship in the aftermath of Typhoon Fengshen.
With the news that the United Nations is to now send a team of chemical experts to the site of the capsized ferry in order to assess the situation, the potential seriousness of the environmental impact if leakage does occur is put into proper context.
Whether this particular shipment was correct or incorrect, legal or illegal, it underlines the necessity for rigid compliance by all shippers and carriers when it comes to the transportation of hazardous substances and it is a clear reminder of the importance of the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code.
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